In the middle of each Tuesday, from spring through fall, we celebrate the good fortune of being on Hilton Head Island with a Farmers & Makers Market. Here in the middle of the Miracle Mile, halfway from Harbour Town to the Sea Pines Beach Club, the plaza of The Shops at Sea Pines Center abounds with the riches that grow from this gentle climate and this fortunate land.

With a fine farmers market as a weekly occasion, we still feel even more grateful than ever at harvest time.

An Autumn Kind of Crop

Our friends at Lowcountry Produce tell us we can expect to see different squashes, peas, sweet potatoes, and leafy greens throughout these autumn Tuesdays. Muscadine grapes and blackberries sweeten the abundance even further. Fresh local honey and local eggs appear, and in weeks to come, we’ll see pumpkins and gourds, the symbols of the season.

The crafts and artworks that appear in such profusion at the Farmers & Makers Market are a kind of crop, too. How often we have heard an artist say that moving to the sea islands opened a new chapter in their creativity? In some cases, including our own beloved Jeff Keefer of VIVID Gallery, a person doesn’t discover the artist within them until they arrive here in Sea Pines.

It might be a sunset over Calibogue Sound or a snowy egret that looks – and acts – so other-worldly from a newcomer’s point of view. It might be the profusion of greens, so many different shades and grades that they can’t all be named, that sends a painter back to her palette to try another blend of oils. Whatever the cue might turn out to be, the awe of arriving in the beauty of our island is fuel for the artist in everyone.

New Seasons to Learn

Recent arrivals and visitors have a new sense of seasons to learn on Hilton Head Island, because at first it seems as if almost everything grows, almost all the time. In fact, “fall” might be said to come at springtime in this subtropical climate, because it is the new growth that pushes out the old leaves and prompts them to fall, rather than the coming of any kind of cold.

The moon is one remaining sign that autumn is arriving, and this year the signal seems early. The harvest moon arrives this year on the night of September 17-18. It will peak in the night sky at 10:34 p.m. Growers and farmers and folks who live close to the land find this a fortunate time to celebrate the goodness we get from this place where we live.

Any Tuesday

Come any Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and celebrate with us. The Farmers & Makers Market takes a break for the winter, but you can count on us every Tuesday through November 26, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

“Celebrate Fresh! Celebrate Local!” became our motto for the Farmers & Makers Market. We see now at harvest time that we are celebrating our gratitude, too. Join us, won’t you, and enjoy.